A New Beginning
by poetesse
Summary: The war is over. Voldemort is defeated. Harry tries to figure out what to do with his life now that the one he was living to fight is no more.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The war is over. Voldemort is defeated. Harry tries to figure out what to do with his life now that the one he was living to fight is no more.

Author's Note: This is my new story, _A New Beginning_. It focuses on Harry's life after the defeat of Voldemort and before JKR's _Nineteen Years Later_ at the end of _Deathly Hollows_. I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, any of the characters from the Harry Potter series, or anything affiliated with the Harry Potter series. They all belong to J.K. Rowling. Any characters not in the Harry Potter series that may be mentioned, do belong to me.

_A New Beginning_

_Chapter One: Hellos and Goodbyes_

All was still. He couldn't remember the last time it had been this still, this quiet, this calm. It had been only a few hours since Voldemort had died. Only a few hours since he had sat in the Great Hall and looked at those around him, only a few hours since he had let it all sink in. He had no idea what to do.

He looked around at the small bedroom in the Burrow that he was occupying. Ron's room was still shockingly orange, just as it had ever been. The sun was slowly creeping up over the nearby hills. Harry wished that it would go back down, that time would rewind. Yes, he wanted Voldemort to be defeated, but he wished that he could have kept others from dying. He wished he could have a time turner to go back and warn Fred to move away from the wall, to tell Remus and Tonks to stay in the Room of Requirement.

He knew that this was impossible, as all of the time turners had been destroyed during their foray into the Ministry two years earlier, but he still wished it. He wished that he could change everything and overcome the great evil with no loses. He knew it was a foolish wish.

As Ron stirred in the bed across from him, Harry didn't know how he could ever face him, or even his family. They were almost alien to him now, now that one of them was missing. It was tragic how one son returned only for them to lose another. He knew that George would be the hardest person for him to face. He didn't know how he could do it. He didn't know how he could do any of it. He wished he didn't have to. Once again, he knew it was a foolish wish.

Ron sat up on his bed and stared at Harry sleepily. "Mornin'," he said as he stood up and stretched. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long," Harry lied. He had never gone to sleep.

"You going to breakfast?"

"In a minute." Harry wanted nothing less than to walk down those stairs and look at Mrs. Weasley.

"Okay." Ron managed a half-smile as he left the room, still in his pajamas.

Harry didn't know what to do. He knew he had to leave this room eventually, but he didn't know how he could, didn't know how he could face the family whose lose he felt partially responsible for. He was extremely grateful when Hermione opened the door and poked her head in.

"Can I come in?" she asked softly.

Harry sat up on his bed and watched Hermione gingerly sit down on Ron's.

"I wanted to talk to you about something. I need your help."

Harry knew that this was coming, and was expecting it, but he had no idea how to help Hermione with her problem.

"I need to go and find my parents. I would love for both you and Ron to come with me, but I don't think it is a great idea for Ron to leave now, you know, under the circumstances." She looked extremely uncomfortable and fidgeted on the bed.

"I know. It wouldn't. His mum would have kittens. I don't know what to do though, Hermione. How do we get your parents back to England? They're Muggles. It's not like we can apparate to Australia, get them, and then apparate back."

"I know. That's why I need your help. I think we're going to have to go to Australia like Muggles, on a plane. That's also another reason why I don't think Ron should go. He doesn't know anything about that type of thing."

"Well neither do I. It's not like the Dursley's ever took me along on their holidays."

Hermione looked a bit sheepish. "I'm sorry. I know. But you do know a lot about Muggles, and you aren't going to act all strange about simple things like a movie on the plane, or computers, or anything Muggle related really, so what I mean is, I really want you to come with me." She got quiet for a second and looked down. "I don't think I could do it by myself."

Harry felt a little bit of sympathy for Hermione. It was so strange to see her looking unconfident about something and he knew it was a foreign concept for her.

"What if I can't change what I did? What if it's permanent? They won't even know me when I get there, and then I have to get them alone so I can do the reversal. What if something goes wrong?"

"Hermione," Harry said, "you are the most brilliant with I know. If anyone can do it, you can."

Hermione smiled up at Harry. "I'm sorry. I'm just being silly."

Harry gave Hermione the best smile he could manage. "It's okay."

Hermione stood up rather quickly and walked to the door. "Well, I guess I'll let you get ready for breakfast, and then we'll go."

"Go? You mean today?"

"Yes, today. I don't know how long this will take and we need to do it as soon as possible. I know Ron will be upset and, oh dear, so will Mrs. Weasley, but they have to understand how important this is to me."

"I'm sure they will. I'll be down in a minute."

Hermione gave Harry another small smile as she exited the room, closing the door behind her. Harry sighed as he stood up and stretched. He was happy they were leaving that day. The sooner the better he thought. He got dressed and walked down the stairs, preparing himself for what he knew was ahead.

Surprisingly, Mrs. Weasley failed to put up much of a fight when Hermione announced that she would be leaving to retrieve her parents. She did mention that maybe it would be best if Harry didn't go, or that maybe someone got them for her, but when Hermione firmly stated that she was going, Mrs. Weasley sighed and turned back to the mountain of food she was preparing. Ginny looked at Harry for a long time before she turned back to her breakfast without saying a word. Harry wasn't sure what he hated more, Ginny's silence, or her mother's.

Ron looked absolutely devastated. As soon as opened his mouth to protest, Hermione kicked his leg under the table. Ron sullenly ate his breakfast, only finished his plate for his mother's sake, and then stomped his way up to his room. Hermione and Harry followed soon after. He didn't even give them a chance to open their mouths.

"Why did you not tell me? Why did you decide that I couldn't go without even talking to me about it? Why are you going right NOW?"

Hermione looked almost scared for a few seconds, but she put a determined look on her face before she spoke. "Ron, I want you to come, okay. I want you to. But you know what that would do to your mum. She needs you. And I need mine. That's why I'm going. I didn't tell you, because I didn't want to have this argument with you before anything was firmly decided in my head. I want you to come with me Ron, but please understand that you just can't."

Ron looked like he didn't understand at all but he nodded his head and stalked out of the room. Hermione gave Harry a sad look as she followed suit. "I've already packed. Meet me outside when you're ready. I still have a lot of your stuff in my beaded bag if you don't want to take anything."

Harry looked around the room. Everything in it was Ron's. He didn't know what to take. He walked out of the room and was surprised to walk into Ginny.

"So, you're leaving?"

"Yeah, but it shouldn't take long."

"Shouldn't take long? So you're coming back in a day? A week? What?"

"I really don't know."

"Oh, well, goodbye then."

"Goodbye."

They stared at each other for a few moments. Ginny looked like she desperately wanted to tell him something, and Harry felt like he had words bottled up in his chest. Ginny stepped toward him suddenly and kissed him slowly and softly.

It took him a moment to react, but Harry kissed her back, just as gently, reveling in it, wishing it would never end, and wondering why he hadn't kissed her sooner.

Ginny pulled away and hugged him to her. "Don't take too long, okay?" she whispered softly in his ear. Harry briefly forgot whey he was even leaving and had an impulse to tell her he wasn't going anywhere. He hugged her back tightly and just stood there for a few moments.

"Okay."

He pulled away and walked down the stairs, willing himself not to look back or he might just walk right back up them and take her into his arms again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Much, much thanks to everyone reading this story and for the two of you that put it in your alerts. I really appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please review! I would love to know what you guys think about how it is going so far.

_Chapter Two: Reunion_

Harry and Hermione's trip to Australia was not as bad as Harry thought it would be. It took some quick thinking and Hermione confounding the security guards at each airport so there wouldn't be any questions. Harry knew it would be strange for them to see all of that stuff in Hermione's extremely small bag. He was very glad Hermione was there with him, since he was never very good at coming up with clever ideas on the spot like that.

The plane ride was mostly uneventful, and very boring. The in-flight movies weren't very interesting, and as it was a long flight, they spent most of it asleep or talking. Hermione was extremely worried about how her parents would react and Harry got the impression that she was afraid of being disowned. Harry spent quite a long time reassuring her that everything would be fine before she sighed loudly and proclaimed that she wouldn't talk about it anymore until they got to Australia. She spent the rest of the flight talking about Ron and the rest of the Weasley family and Harry thought that that particular topic might have been even worse than her parents. He was just as worried about the family as Hermione, but unlike Hermione, had a much harder time expressing his feelings about it. Harry felt at some point that Ron had been right. If any one person ever felt the amount of feelings that Hermione talked about the whole flight they _would _explode.

After they arrived in Australia, Hermione's insecurities doubled. She had no idea where her parents were. When she had charmed them, she didn't specify a place where they wanted to go, other than Australia, so there was no way of knowing where exactly in the country they were.

"Well, I highly doubt they went into the Outback, it's absolutely dreadful out there, so we should start in the larger cities," Hermione said as she walked over to a payphone and picked up the phone book attached to the stand. The back half was ripped out. She sighed, dropped it and walked to the next booth. This one had no phone book. The next phone book was too old to possibly have Hermione's parents in it.

"Don't worry," Harry said as he led her out of the airport and hailed a taxi. "I'm sure someone in this big city has a new phonebook."

Harry told the taxi driver to take them to a hotel, any hotel, and Hermione anxiously chewed on her fingernails and stared out of the window the whole way there. "You've got to calm down, Hermione. We'll find them."

Hermione looked at him and gave him a small smile and took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm just being silly."

When they arrived at a hotel, Hermione rushed inside and went straight to the front desk. She asked the receptionist for a phone book and when Harry walked in the door carrying their bags she looked downright devastated.

"Look at how many there are, Harry."

Harry glanced down at the pages and saw many M. Wilkins and Monica Wilkins, and as Hermione flipped through some pages he saw even more W. Wilkins and Wendell Wilkins. He didn't know how there could be so many Wendell Wilkins' in one city.

"Is there one of these in the rooms?" Harry asked the receptionist.

"Yes," she replied. "Would you like a king, queen, or two doubles?"

"Two doubles."

The woman raised her eyebrows slightly but typed away on her computer. "That will be 107.94. Will you be paying with cash or credit?"

Hermione's eyes looked like they were going to bulge out of her head. "Um, credit," she said as she handed them a card. Harry was shocked, as he didn't know Hermione had a credit card.

"My parents gave it to me in case of an emergency. I didn't think it would do me any good, being a witch, but now I'm glad I have it," she explained in the elevator. "That was a lot of money for just one night."

When they entered their room Hermione threw her bag on the bed and picked up the phone book lying on the nightstand. "We'll start with the W. Wilkins'. At home our phone number was always in my dad's name."

She flipped open the phone book and found the first M. Wilkins at 182 Burbank Ln. "Okay, hold tight to me," she said as she pulled out her wand.

It took almost hundred different tries and when Hermione Apparated them to 99 Alcary Dr. she gasped. Her mother and father were standing at the side of the house and appeared to be having a discussion about their lawnmower.

"Wendell, dear, maybe we should just buy a new one," Mrs. Granger was saying.

"I know how to fix it dear," Mr. Granger replied while he leaned over the lawnmower with a confused look on his face.

"Alright," she replied as she turned around and then started. She had spotted Hermione and Harry. "Can I help you?"

Mr. Granger looked up from his lawnmower at the two young people standing in his yard. "I'm sorry, but do we know you?"

Harry looked at Hermione for help. She had pulled out her wand and her parents looked at her apprehensively. In a few moments they had a blank look on their face and Harry wondered what spell Hermione had put on them. After a few seconds they began to shake their heads like they had just been dizzy. When Hermione and Harry came into focus, they looked shocked.

"Hermione? What's going on? What happened? Where are we?" her father demanded. Hermione ran forward and hugged them to her fiercely, tears rolling down her cheeks. Harry turned away, feeling like he was intruding on something personal.

Hermione led them inside their house and sat them down to explain everything to them. They stayed silent the whole time with their expressions changing from shock, to anger, to disbelief. When Hermione finished, they didn't say anything for a moment, but when they did speak, you could tell that they were very upset.

Hermione listened with her head down and tears in her eyes while her parents scolded her. It was very strange for Harry to see Hermione in trouble and it was completely opposite from how Mrs. Weasley handled things when she was upset. The Grangers reminded Harry of Dumbledore. He would rather hear them scream their heads off than use the tone of voice and look at him with as much disappointment as they were at Hermione right then. Hermione looked like she was going to cry any minute.

Hermione's parents only spoke for a few minutes before they stopped and just sat in silence. Harry told Hermione that he would be going back to their hotel room, and he would leave her alone with them. She nodded her head in agreement and Harry Disapparated.

When he returned the next day, he found a much happier Mr. and Mrs. Granger and an extremely happy Hermione. The Grangers didn't speak much to Harry on the way to the airport, or on the flight home, and he suspected that they somewhat blamed him for their enchantment, but he didn't mind.

When their flight landed, Harry thought for the first time about where he would go. He knew that he would always be welcome at the Burrow no matter what happened during the war, but he didn't know if he could bring himself to look at Mrs. Weasley every day, and most likely not even the rest of the family. He couldn't help but feel like it was his fault that Fred was dead, and even though in the back of his mind he knew that it wasn't, he still felt responsible, like there was something he could have done to prevent it.

Harry spoke briefly with Hermione about what plans they would have. Hermione had decided that she was going to stay with her parents for quite some time before venturing back into the wizard world. She hadn't seen them in a year, and although they were still very upset with her, she was going to spend all the time with them that they needed.

Harry was concerned with the possibility that Death Eaters would find her house, since she was so closely connected to him. Hermione laughed shortly and said she had already taken care of that, but would not go into further detail. Harry assumed that she had placed the same charms around her house that she had placed around their campsites every day. He wished her good luck with her parents and 

hugged her goodbye at the airport doors. He didn't miss Mr. Granger's raised eyebrow, but smiled to himself, as he knew that Mr. Granger had nothing to worry about, not from him anyway.

Harry hailed a taxi, wisely thinking it would be inconspicuous for him to Disapparate in the middle of an airport. He told driver to take him to the only place in London he could think of, the book store that was next to the Leaky Cauldron. When he arrived, he took a deep breath as he stood near the door, hardening himself for what he knew was to come, but also knew it was necessary.

As he walked into the room, there was complete silence. Every eye in the pub was looking his way, and Harry felt uncomfortable even though he was accustomed to people starring at him. He took a step forward and the noise was horrendous compared to the silence that hit him when he had first opened the door. Every chair in the pub scraped against the floor as people hurried out of their seats and forward to meet him.

"Such an honor, sir! I never thought I would see the day that You-Know-Who would be conquered!"

"Harry Potter! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Oh, sir, it is such an honor to meet you. We could never thank you enough!"

Harry heard this and much more as people scrambled to shake his hand. Many shook his hand twice, even three times before it was over and Harry found himself hard pressed to make it through to the other side of the pub to get to Diagon Alley. When he finally made it and shut the back door behind him it was to the sound of hands clapping. Harry sighed heavily and leaned against the door. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go into Diagon Alley just yet. He thought about what he would do, not wanting to face the scene he knew would be before him, when an idea jumped into his head, and he wondered why he had not thought of it sooner.

He would go to Grimmauld Place. After all, Voldemort was gone, and his Death Eaters were arrested, so why not? He pulled out his wand and turned on the spot, apparating to the front step of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. As soon as the door came into view he felt something hit him in the head. He fell backwards down the stairs and all he saw was a pair of old, scuffed shoes before everything went black.


End file.
